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Following a number of calls from the public, Morris County authorities took to Twitter to calm the public.

A post on the county's official account stated: 'THERE IS NO EMERGENCY OCCURRING IN MORRIS COUNTY: Please disregard an emergency message being broadcast by Optimum.'

The cable company itself later explained that an emergency alert system test had gone wrong, blaming human error.

Panic: Residents took to Twitter to after the emergency message was broadcast

'We apologize for the confusion caused when we were conducting a routine emergency alert system test in the Morris County, New Jersey area,' Altice USA/Optimum spokesperson Lindsey Angioletti told DailyRecord.com

'Our technical teams are conducting an investigation to ensure this doesn't happen again.'

Optimum customers took to Twitter to question the meaning of the blue-screen emergency alert and look for answers.

'Should I be worried that a blue screen that says Emergency Alert System for Morris County NJ is on every channel for last 10 min saying nothing but playing really bad elevator music,' one person wrote.

The emergency alert was broadcast just five days after a false ballistic missile alert was transmitted to mobile phones in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HEMA) issued an alert at around 8am on Saturday, which read: 'Emergency Alert: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.'

The agency then failed to cancel the alert for 38 minutes, sparking widespread panic among the 1.4million people who live on the island.